Popular Posts

Friday, 25 May 2012

When you learn to
drive, you’re told that there are blind spots in every vehicle. To be safe, we need to do shoulder checks
before changing lanes or making turns; the consequences of ignoring our blind
spots could cause great harm to others and ourselves.

In life we have
blind spots too, but they are not as easy to compensate for. Other people can often see them when we
cannot. If they try to point them out,
we often react defensively. Last
weekend one of my blind spots came into view, and it has been hard to
process.

In most areas of
my life I do not take matters into my own hands—I don’t cut off other drivers
to get in first, I don’t butt into lineups, I ask for permission when my
actions will affect others. Yet I acted
quite differently when it came to a plot in a community garden. Last year we had planted vegetables in a
particular plot and without making much of an attempt to contact the people in
charge, I planted seedlings in the same plot on May 12th. It was planting season, I reasoned, I’ll
work out the details later.

Last weekend I was
“busted” because the people running the garden had rented out this plot to
someone else (who had paid the fee and signed an agreement according to a new
policy). There was a cardboard sign
asking us to move our plants. My blind
spot caused distress to another gardener, not to mention the volunteers trying
to coordinate things. In their eyes I
was a squatter, a lawless individual who planted on private property without
permission. It all seems so obvious to
me now—how did I think I could get away with this, becoming over-familiar with
this plot and considering it my own?

This experience
and the need to make amends have renewed my awareness of having blind
spots. I’m sure this is not the only
one! I think I’ve come to a place where
I’m more open to hearing about my blind spots and working on them. And if I see one in others, I will not be as
quick to judge.

Friday, 18 May 2012

One of the
advantages of living in a city is the possibility using a bike as a primary
means of transportation. This has been
true for my husband, who cycles a round trip of about 14 kilometres to his job
every day that the roads are not covered in ice and snow. He bought a used road bike when we first
arrived in the city and used it until we received an interesting telephone call
from the Pinery Provincial Park.

A few months
before we had spent almost a week at the Pinery and participated in the “One
Park Challenge.” The challenge was to
park your vehicle once, at your camp site, during your stay and either walk or
bike to wherever you needed to go inside the park. In a park greater than 6,000 acres in size this was no small feat. When we left, a ticket was put into a draw
for a new adult bike. This phone call
told my husband that he had won this prize.

He donated his
other bike to a local non-profit group, which helps low-income people obtain a
good form of transportation. This fall,
after about one year of using the new bike, he discovered it had been stolen
from his workplace, the lock destroyed by bolt cutters. First there was shock, which gave way to
appreciation. Within 24 hours, a friend
brought over a bike he could borrow for as long as he needed it and a co-worker
gave him a bike he could keep.

It can be easy to
be bitter about things like this and resignedly say, “Easy come, easy go.” We chose to see this, rather, as a situation
where the generosity of friends trumped thievery.

Friday, 11 May 2012

Why doesn’t God stop evil people from carrying out their
wicked plans? When we hear details of
crimes committed, we may wonder why God did not intervene. It’s not that he is not powerful enough, for
he is almighty. It’s not that he
doesn’t care, for he is full of compassion.
Maybe a true story can help.

King David,
well known for being a godly man and writer of many psalms, was guilty of
adultery and murder. We might say “Why did God not stop him.” If you read 2 Samuel 11 carefully, you will notice
that things happened which could have turned David from his evil
intentions, but he pressed on.* There
was a servant’s question, “Isn’t this woman the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” to
probe his conscience. The faithful
actions of Uriah when called home from the battle should have put David
to shame, but he decided to put this trustworthy soldier into the heat of
battle so he would be killed, thus making his widow available to add to the
king’s harem. I believe God is
intervening all the time to prevent harm, but a person bent on evil hardens his
heart and ignores such things.

What was the
aftermath of all this? When confronted
David realizes how far he had strayed from God’s ways, resulting in Psalm 51, a
prayer we can all pray when we have seriously messed up our lives. In the depth of David’s evil, we see that
God’s grace is deeper still. This woman
Bathsheba becomes the mother of King Solomon and carries on the line of promise
that is leading to Jesus as the “son of David.”

As prevalent as
evil is, we are not left to ourselves.
God is at work turning peoples’ hearts to what is good and right. He sees the big picture and can use even the
worst events to bring people to realize how much they need him.

*Thanks to Pastor Darrell Bierman who pointed this out in a sermon I heard him preach.

Friday, 4 May 2012

Recently I was telephoned and offered a resort vacation in
Mexico for two adults and two children at 80% off the regular price. I am always a skeptic of such offers, but
this time I told the caller that even if it was legitimate I had no desire for
a resort vacation in Mexico. He then
wondered if I would prefer Orlando, Florida or the Bahamas. Call me weird, this type of vacation has no
appeal for me whatsoever. It is not
part of my wish list for my retirement either.

My best vacations
have involved more than seeing tourist sights.
The beach is fine for a day, but after that I’d like to know what life
is like for the people whose community I am visiting. A road trip to Western Canada was made more meaningful by
speaking with the local people in the places where they shopped and
worshiped. Even a weekend visit with
family had added benefit to me because my son and I got involved in helping out
with some of the farm chores.

About Me

My purpose in writing the providence place blog is to encourage others to reflect with me on God's providential care in every day life. Voorzienigheidsruimte is a selection of my best posts translated into Dutch.